Amy Donaldson: NCAA and college administrations should explore compensating college athletes

FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2011 file photo, Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter (2) celebrates a touchdown with teammates, including Ben Burkett, left, during an NCAA college football game against Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. Colter has become the face of a movement to give college athletes the right to form unions and bargain. After a decision this week by a regional director of the National Labor Relations board, he also could leave a legacy as the athlete who formed the foundation of a dramatic overhaul of college sports that could potentially give athletes a chance to fight for a piece of an industry that generates billions based on their performance. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver, File)

A recent ruling allows football players at Northwestern University to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. Many believe this is the latest blow to the NCAA's rules against compensating athletes for their play.

College athletics are big business.

Even a high school dropout knows that.

In 2012, ad revenue from television alone netted $1 billion, while that same year, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament earned $991 million, according to Kantar Media. The revenue generated by March Madness alone exceeded the playoff revenue earned by the NBA, MLB and NHL in 2012. In the bigger conferences, football programs generate hundreds of millions of dollars for universities.

Just about everybody associated with those two collegiate sports seems to be getting rich. Everybody, that is, except the student-athletes.

That’s because they can’t.

To preserve their amateur status, they are not allowed to accept any kind of compensation — not even a free meal from a fan or booster who owns a restaurant. In fact, Ohio State football players were punished because they sold or traded things they’d earned or been given as players. They were essentially punished for selling their own property.

Recent cases like the one at OSU have resulted in a push to compensate college athletes — especially those whose athletic performances make millions for their colleges, the NCAA and even private companies. The athletes have been increasingly vocal and active in asking for compensation, even turning to litigation in some cases.

That effort gained momentum last week when a ruling from a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board found that college athletes at Northwestern University were employees of the university. As such, they’re allowed to form a union and engage in collective bargaining.

The university plans to appeal to the national body of the NLRB, and right now the decision only applies to Northwestern, which is a private school. And it may not have implications for any Utah school other than BYU, which is also a private school, because collective bargaining is governed by state law for public colleges and universities.

Still, the obvious question that persists is whether or not it’s fair, or even ethical, for universities to make millions of dollars off of collegiate athletics while the student-athletes receive only a free education.

No one has a better understanding of what college athletics offer, require and cost than those who compete on behalf of the universities. Two NFL players with local college ties just happened to be in Utah last week participating in events at their alma maters.

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith was speaking at a high school coaches clinic at the University of Utah, while his Ravens teammate, tight end Dennis Pitta, was running a skills camp with some of his former BYU teammates on Saturday.

Neither player said they thought college athletes should be paid a salary to play sports for universities. But Smith said he’d like to see college athletes have the ability to make money in ways similar to how other college students are able to capitalize on their skills.

“When you look at the game now, what it brings and how much money it brings in, and some of the limitations you have as an athlete,” Smith said in an interview with the Deseret News a few hours before his speaking engagement, “I agree to a certain extent that when you’re a college student, whatever college you’re at, you should have the ability to work. You’re not limited on the amount of money you can bring in.”

For example, if a music student on scholarship at a school wants to give private lessons or perform for money, he or she is allowed to do so. But athletes cannot use their skills — or their popularity with fans — to make any extra income.

Popular Comments

College athletes are compensated. The largest percentage of them receive
scholarships.

8:39 p.m. March 30, 2014

Top comment

JoCo Ute

Grants Pass, OR

News Flash for Amy; College Athletics are not big business. Outside of
men's basketball, football and a very few women's sports college
athletics is a losing business. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that
between 2005 and 2009
More..

11:16 p.m. March 30, 2014

Top comment

DN Subscriber

Cottonwood Heights, UT

A better idea would be to drop ALL college athletics, and cut tuition and fees
at colleges by 50%, which can be done after eliminating the astronomical
expenses for big stadiums, coaching salaries many times that of any professor,
and all the special
More..

Amy Donaldson covers high school sports, winter and Olympic sports, as well as outdoor and recreation. She manages the Deseret News' Reasons to Run blog, as well as writes a twice-a-month fitness column. She also writes a more ..